More speculation about the PS4 and 4K

Speculation mounts about the forthcoming PS4 and its role in 4K content delivery

We're hearing more rumours about the forthcoming PS4 games console/home media hub.

Inconceivable

We were always pretty sure before that it was going to include 4K output, and after all the 4K TV announcements at January's CES show, we think it's now inconceivable that it won't be launched with a 4K capability (or at least be upgradable to the new Ultra-HD standard).

What's it going to look like? Well, the developer's kit released by Sony to game manufacturers is called "Orbis" which at least in some sense suggests that it might be built on a circular theme - a speculation that is supported by the appearance of Sony's prototype 4K media player at CES, seen below, which is, again, circular.

We're hearing that the internals will be based around AMD chips.

Launch date?

Best bet for a launch date? Most people seem to think it will be shown in public for the first time at E3 in the summer and realised in the autumn of this year, somewhat ahead of previous estimates. It doesn't matter if you're not into games because this console is almost certainly going to be at the heart of Sony's attempt to deliver very high quality media to the home. It probably also represents the start of the demise of optical disk formats for content delivery: remember that the normal life of a games console is between seven and ten years.

Remember, all of this is based on speculation and should not be treated as reliable. As soon as we get more confirmation, we'll let you know.